The UK Government has recently introduced new legislation (The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 9) Regulations 2022) which requires providers of social media services, internet access services (i.e. internet service providers) and application stores to take reasonable steps to prevent their users in the UK from encountering or accessing online content generated by individuals or organisations who are under Russian sanctions.
What does this mean for you as an internet and social media user?
Your internet service provider (ISP) should have put a block in place to stop you reaching a specific list of websites which are owned and/or run by individuals or organisations who are under Russian sanctions. This includes websites such as Russia Today and Sputnik News. It is very likely that your ISP will have complied with these sanctions, as failure to do so is a criminal offence.
These sanctions have been put in place in an effort to encourage Russia to cease actions destabilising Ukraine.
If we (Immervox) are responsible for your ISP, then rest assured we are monitoring and communicating with all our ISP partners to ensure compliance, so you do not need to do anything. If you have another ISP and you have any concerns about this, please reach out to your ISP to find out what they are doing to comply.
